The Other One
by WishFlower
Summary: What if Alice wasn't the first person from Upland to visist Wonderland? Short story about Alice's Great-Aunt Imogene. Based on the 2010 movie.


**A/N This is the story of Alice's Aunt Imogene. Italics are the story that Hatter is telling. **

"YOU'RE LATE FOR TEA!" The March Hare screamed at Alice as she took her place beside The Mad Hatter.

"I know, I'm sorry. Pass the scones please." Alice said politely.

"I'm so glad you came back, Alice! How was China?" The Dormouse asked.

"It was interesting and very exotic." Alice answered.

"Yes, I'm glad you came back as well. Not like the other one. But then again, she didn't have your muchness, Alice." The Mad Hatter said.

"What other one? Did someone else come down from Upland before me?" Alice asked, interested.

"Yes, a girl around your age. It was such a long time ago, before I was born. But people have told me about her, and she doesn't sound very muchy." Hatter said cheerfully.

"What was her name? Can you tell me about her?" Alice asked eagerly.

"I think her name was Imogene. Is that right?" Hatter asked the rest of the table, excluding Alice.

Mallymkun the Dormouse nodded and Tweedledee said "Yes." The same time Tweedledum said "No."

Hatter shrugged and continued, "Anyways, I heard that she was wandering around through a forest when she fell down the rabbit hole and into Underland....."

_Imogene fell flat on her face on the hard marble floor. She picked herself up and looked around, noticing the little cake and drink on a glass table. She drank the drink and fit through a small door only the size of her full sized face. She walked out into a very strange looking garden. It seemed like hours before she came to any sort of civilization. It was a camp of some sorts, tents were set up and a fire was burning in the evening light. Imogene was still only six inches tall and was scared of the men walking around stepping on her. Suddenly she saw a man walking towards her._

_"Hello." He said. He knelt down on his knees and pulled something from his pocket. _

_"Hello." Imogene said back. _

_"My name is the Silver Prince Have you been shrunk or are you just naturally tiny?" The Prince asked. _

_"No! My name is Imogene Kingsley and I seemed to have drunk something to make me so small." Imogene said to the Prince. _

_"Well, lucky than, that I have the antidote to that particular potion right here with me! It's an old family recipe." He handed her the bottle and she quickly took a sip. Immediately, she was restored to her former height. She ran her hands through her long walnut coloured hair and tried to twist it back up into a bun, but her hairpins had all fallen out from the journey. _

_"Would you like something to drink? My knights and I have just come here to stake out the enemy, and we became quite famished." The Silver Prince led her politely to the fireside and shooed a couple of men away. _

_"Yes please. But what do you mean when you say you have an enemy?" Imogene asked. _

_"Underland is at war, Imogene. And as a prince, I have to defend my home." The Prince said solemnly. _

_"Oh, so this is real? This isn't a dream?" Imogene said._

_The Prince looked at her strangely. "Where are you from, Imogene?" _

_"I'm from England. I have no idea how I got here, though. I was just walking around the woods when I fell down a rabbit hole!" Imogene took a sip of the tea he passed her. _

_"You're from Upland! I've heard there's a portal around here, but I've never heard of anyone going through it! I must bring you to my parents at once!" The Prince said._

"That's my aunt!" Alice exclaimed.

"She is?" The White Rabbit asked.

"Yes! That's my mad Great-Aunt Imogene!" Alice said.

"No wonder you have so much muchness, Alice! You come from a family of mad people! And after all, all the best people are mad." Hatter said as he smiled at Alice. Then he continued his story.

_The Silver Prince and Imogene arrived back at the Gold King and Queen's castle. The Prince led Imogene to the Great Hall to speak to his parents. Imogene explained all about Upland to them and how she had come to find Underland. The Gold King and Queen were completely enchanted by Imogene and her stories and so was the Silver Prince. Eventually, the Silver Prince and Imogene fell in love. _

_One day they were taking a stroll around the golden gardens. _

_"You look lovely today, Genie." The Prince said warmly to his pretty companion. Genie was his pet name for the girl. _

_She blushed and said, "Thank you, my prince." _

_He turned to her and said, "My real name is Sterling and someday I will be king. I would love it very much if you became my queen." He knelt down on one knee and pulled out a silver ring with a clear diamond on it. "Genie, will you marry me?" _

_Imogene gasped and blushed and tears of joy ran down her face. "Yes!" She cried. _

_But just as he was about to slide the perfect ring onto his true love's finger, a huge earth shaking bang knocked it out of his hands. _

_"It's the Black King and his minions! It is our enemies!" Sterling shouted. _

_Riding over the hill they could see a mass of black moving quickly towards the Gold Castle. _

_"Go, my love! It is not safe!" The Silver Prince said urgently. _

_"I can't leave you here!" Imogene screamed back._

_"You must go now! But I promise you, one day when the war is over, I will come to Upland and I will take you back here and we will marry and be the Silver King and Queen of Underland." Sterling the Silver Prince said. He kissed Imogene one last time and showed her a secret way out of the castle grounds to the rabbit hole. She cried the whole way back to Upland and prayed for her dear prince's safety. _

_She was so distraught that she wasn't paying attention, and when she emerged from the rabbit hole, she hit her head. The bump wasn't hard, but hard enough to boggle her mind a little bit. When her mother and brother found her, she was sitting on the ground with a nasty bruise and cut on her forehead murmuring something about her prince and a war. _

_"What's wrong, Imogene?" Her concerned mother asked her._

_"Oh, nothing. I'm getting married you know. Soon, he said. He will send for me and I shall be a princess. He's a prince." Imogene babbled. _

_Her brother picked her up and carried her back into their house. For the rest of her life, she said nothing but small comments about a prince that never came. _

"What a sad story." Alice said quietly. "Poor Great-Aunt Imogene."

"More tea anyone?" The March Hare offered.

"What ever happened to the Silver Prince?" Alice asked the Mad Hatter.

"He died." The Hatter said cheerfully.

Alice choked a bit on her tea, "He - he _died?" _

"Yes, in the battle in the story." Hatter said.

"Oh! That's terrible!" Alice exclaimed.

"Yes, but his younger brother took up the throne than married and had children who had children who became the White and Red Queen." The Hatter passed her a plate of jam tarts.

"I could have been related to the White Queen!" Alice said in wonder.

"She would be lucky to be related to you. You're full of muchness. If only your Aunt Imogene had more muchness, things might have turned out differently." Hatter said quietly.

"Maybe, but maybe not. Things tend to happen for a reason. Maybe my Great-Aunt Imogene was just not meant to stay in Underland." Alice said sadly.

"I know you are." Hatter said sweetly.

Alice smiled up at her best friend and was overwhelmed with the feeling of home.

**The End**

**I hope everyone likes it and reviews make my day! **


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